It Does Not Pay To Run From The Police

[joan1984]

Family of Walter Scott tells Rev. Al Sharpton
to keep away; police release dash-cam
video from cop Michael Slager’s cruiser
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/family-walter-scott-shot-dead-preparing-lawsuit-article-1.2179020

So far what we have in this South Carolina incident is a mess. A man stopped driving with a broken tail light is dead, and the Officer has been fired, arrested and charged with First Degree Murder, and it seems the fast action by the local Police and Prosecutors has helped this town get out in front of the potential blowback, unlike the Ferguson, MO situation last August through currently, there.

The investigation continues. A cell phone video, filmed by a local barber and released to the media, and the Police car dashboard video have been released, or so far as we know all that footage and audio has been released (perhaps there is more), and I think all agree that no one should die for a broken taillight.

Seems to be the current news coverage slant, anyway. FBI is assisting with the investigation, and so far as I know, Eric Holder and Company have not weighed in, at least publicly, to what is being handled by the town and State. The Family of the dead man, Mr. Scott, has stated they will bring a civil case.

-----

Of course, Mr. Brown was not shot for having a nonworking taillight.

He gave a jumbled, sometimes conflicting story about the vehicle he was driving, had no paperwork, said he just bought it, then said he had not yet bought it but would do so "on Monday....", and could produce nothing written about the vehicle, registration or insurance.

He seemingly gave his drivers license to the Officer (some reports say he did not have a Drivers license), and the Officer was clearly in the process of checking Mr. Brown's history, and the Vehicle's owner status, or at least about to, when Mr. Brown bolted from the Mercedes and took off running.

The Officer ran after him, and attempted (not on video released to date, but audio from the Officer's microphone indicates) to stop Mr. Brown via use of a Taser. Mr. Brown continued running, with the Officer chasing him, and the Officer fired 8 shots, hitting him with a number of them before Mr. Brown stopped.

How ironic both this suspect and the man in Ferguson were named Brown...

Clearly the Officer used deadly force to stop and apprehend a fleeing suspect. The Officer has not made any statement since the incident, at least none that has been made public. His attorney quit, shortly prior to the Officer being charged and jailed, and his new attorney is reviewing the case prior to making any statement.

Did the Officer suspect the Mercedes was stolen, and the driver was in the midst of Grand Theft Auto... a felony? The suspect was warned to stay in the car, after an initial attempt to exit his vehicle, before he took flight. No alarm was expressed at what the Officer visually saw when he obtained the driver's license... No questions or comments were asked or made by the Passenger in the Mercedes.

Whether indeed Mr. Scott had permission to drive the Mercedes will come out, and likely is now known by Police and Authorities. What Warrants, if any, were on file for Mr. Brown (past due child support has been mentioned by one of his relatives as speculation about why he ran), will eventually be known by us all.

The charge of First Degree Murder seems a bit dramatic to me, and I expect that was the intent at the time the charge and arrest was made, and the Officer jailed. The right of a Police Officer to stop what he believes is a fleeing felon, and he knows is a fleeing suspect who is resisting arrest via flight on foot, who had disregarded direct orders at least twice, has limits, and I expect they were crossed here.

May this South Carolina town escape the circus that became Ferguson, MO.  It is Friday afternoon...

[Elizabeth]

I think that there is a lot more to this than we are being told.
I don't think either Brown or Slager are innocent, but we shall see.

Love,
Liz

[joan1984]

Thanks, Coach.

I mentioned it near the end of my comments, or intended to, but it was not clear to me that he actually had a Warrant, only that someone from his family thought he did, and offered that as a possible reason for him to run.

Sad results, all around. Let us all hope the town is not trashed this weekend, as they sort out the details of fully what happened here. No bringing back Mr. Brown, and there is more to unfold here, on several levels, as Liz noted.

Joan, you left out the fact that Mr. Brown had a warrant out for his arrest for non payment of child support and that is at least one of the reasons it is believed he ran.

[Katiebee]

I know of no U.S. law enforcement agency whose guidelines or the laws they follow allow the use of deadly force on a non-violent suspect who is running away.

If, as a CHL holder, I did that there would be murder charges brought.

In the vernacular of the police, it was not a good shoot.

And Joan, just for your edification, the police are not allowed to indiscriminately shoot people. That is called murder in the most extreme form and is certainly a deprivation of due process.

[Elizabeth]

I think that there is a lot more to this than we are being told.
I don't think either Brown or Slager are innocent, but we shall see.

Love,
Liz

I will at least somewhat disagree with you there Liz. NO unarmed person, white, black, green or any other fucking color should be shot 5 times in the back!

I agree with that, it shooting was excessive and you don't shoot someone in the back. That's why I said Slager wasn't innocent, and I doubt Brown is innocent either.
We need to know more about Brown's history as well as Slager's.

Love,
Liz

[Athos_131]

This man did not deserve to die for any of the currently known transgressions.  The former police officer clearly tampered with evidence after shooting him for nothing more than fleeing.  

Anyone disputing this is a fucking racist.

While probably a deadbeat dad for any number of reasons, his children now have no dad.

[brody]

This man did not deserve to die for any of the currently known transgressions.  The former police officer clearly tampered with evidence after shooting him for nothing more than fleeing.  

Anyone disputing this is a fucking racist.

Or an idiot.  But that's redundant.

[Tony V.]

I've related my Credentials on other Threads, so I won't repeat them here. Let me State this as STRONGLY as possible....

Officer Schlager FUCKED UP!! He shot a man in the back, because he couldn't catch him in a FOOT PURSUIT!! The entire Department knew where Mr. Brown lived, and could have Apprehended him at ANY time!! The Warrant was for unpaid Child Support, so it wasn't like there was a Mass Murder that Officer Schlager had Pulled Over for that broken Tail Light....

I am outraged that this happened, and a man lost his life as a result. Now don't get me wrong, I've been outrun by plenty of Suspects. It sucks tremendously, but I didn't shoot ANY of them in the back for it.....I'm so angry about this I can't even type straight. Now, I have to Instruct 45 Cadets how to NOT be like this Murderer in Blue!!

Tony V.             

[GEMINIGUY]

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Doesn't Law Enforcement have this phrase they use "Stop! Or i'll shoot!"? I'm not saying it's an excuse to shoot a guy as many times as that Officer did, I just want to be clear on this.
Speaking of clear, I think Joan's take on the whole incident several posts back was the one time I agreed with something she said.

Except for the excessive number of shots fire of course.

[sheriff andy]

This man did not deserve to die for any of the currently known transgressions.  The former police officer clearly tampered with evidence after shooting him for nothing more than fleeing.  

Anyone disputing this is a fucking racist.

While probably a deadbeat dad for any number of reasons, his children now have no dad.

 

This is probably the only thing in this whole matter that I can find completely idiotic and offensive.

From the information we have, this was an unlawful act, and this may be as simple as a bad cop gone nuts.  I have not however seen anything that would lead one to believe that the man was shot purely because he was black.

Would I be a racist if I disagreed with you and the dead man was white?

Isn't it racist to assume that this officer shot him because he was black without any evidence of it?
Isn't it rather idiotic to assume someone is a racist with no evidence?

[Athos_131]

[phtlc]

Wait a minute, wait a minute. Doesn't Law Enforcement have this phrase they use "Stop! Or i'll shoot!"? I'm not saying it's an excuse to shoot a guy as many times as that Officer did, I just want to be clear on this.

My understanding is that in certain rare cases where the cop can demonstrate that allowing the person to escape represented a danger to the public (ie armed robbery, shots already fired by suspect..etc) the cop might be able to pull the "stop or I'll shoot" and fire at a fleeing person (at least up here) but in a case where an unarmed person is running away from a traffic stop it's hard to claim the cop did it in the interest of public safety.

[phtlc]

This man did not deserve to die for any of the currently known transgressions.  The former police officer clearly tampered with evidence after shooting him for nothing more than fleeing.  

Anyone disputing this is a fucking racist.

Not necessarily. Some people will support any act of brutality or cover up by cops regardless of colour. Sure racism could motivate some to take the cops side on this, but again some are just budding vigilante types who would justify any cop shooting.

[kelly-aus]

i hope that this ex police officer gets the chair for killing a man over a broken tail light... he deserves to die for the same broken light

[GEMINIGUY]

Kelly, that wasn't only about a broken tail light. If it was just about a broken tail light would YOU have fleed from the scene too?

[Katiebee]

It makes no difference. The officer was not following the law.

[coacheric]

Nice to see that a chair is SOOO much easier than trying to defend you views! You call names then post chairs when questioned yet Andy's the one who gets told "fuck you"

Now go ahead and give me my BOO and post a chair because we all know that unless it's name calling or just a direct link to a another site, I won't get anything else from you!

[Athos_131]

Ok, Fuck you too.

There was already a thread on this.  The OP is a racist.  The only purpose of the original post is to show hatred of anyone not a WASP.

[coacheric]

Ok, Fuck you too.

There was already a thread on this.  The OP is a racist.

Oh look, he has more buttons than just


and they seem to work also. Watch out KB, hell might actually freeze today, it's the rapture they keep talking about.   Of course he still has to name call because ignorant people find name calling to be the best line of defense when words will fail them.


It's a bitch that Karma is only once every 24 hours 

[Athos_131]

Fuck you, again.